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Landscape Architecture Research

A More Sustainable, Healthy, &
Just World
For All

When community stakeholders and advocates, elected officials, government agencies, and environmental coalitions need data and guidance for outdoor spaces, they turn to the experts in the UF Department of Landscape Architecture.

Our researchers actively explore issues related to changing climate, tourism, landscape conservation, tropical and sub-tropical landscapes, coastal community resilience, sustainable landscape infrastructure, and more. Our faculty and students harness the latest technologies, including geographic information systems (GIS), digital twin technology, and ethnographic research methods. They collaborate on projects using artificial intelligence to make new discoveries.

RESEARCH CONNECTIONS

Methods of Engagement

Although our primary fields of interest have distinct grounds and goals, our research projects interconnect those distinct fields. We may focus on the same region. We might work with communities and technologies in similar ways. Regardless of our individual field of interest, our work collectively shapes the practice of landscape architecture.

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Science, technology, and
artificial intelligence

Ethnography and participatory
action research

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Design research and design build

Shared Specializations & Methods

Although our primary fields of interest have distinct grounds and goals, our research projects interconnect those distinct fields. We may focus on the same region. We might work with communities and technologies in similar ways. Regardless of our individual field of interest, our work collectively shapes the practice of landscape architecture.

Areas of Specialization

Research Centers: Local Impact, Global Reach

The State of Florida, a microcosm of global concerns, faces complex challenges, including urbanization, an aging population, social justice, tourism, climate change, sea-level rise, and degradation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. 

Ph.D. candidates in Landscape Architecture are addressing these issues through research, outreach, collaborations, and partnerships with other departments, colleges, universities, agencies, and non-governmental organizations. 

“Some people say Florida’s way too developed to protect these lands. Well, actually, no, it’s not. Here’s the science, and here’s the map.”

Prof. Tom Hoctor
Director, Center for Landscape Conservation & Planning

Andrea Galinski, Ph.D.

  • The research: The Heat + Affordable Housing Network: Exploring Landscapes of Thermal Inequity in the Southeastern U.S.
  • The goal: Developing strategies for healthy and resilient affordable housing, supportive social systems, as well as equitable land use, zoning, and building and urban design that enable communities to flourish in a changing climate.
  • Supported by: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Yi Luo, Ph.D.

Post-Occupancy Evaluation for Depot Park

Prof. Yi Luo shares the results of her longitudinal and cross-sectional performance analyses of Gainesville’s Depot Park.

Student Spotlight: Rui Hu (Ph.D. Candidate)

  • The research: Accessibility of Green Space & Childhood Obesity in the USA
  • The methods: Secondary dataset and applied multiple regression analysis.
  • The results: Accessibility of neighborhood parks and playgrounds is significantly negative correlated to child obesity (?=-1.002, p<0.001).

SYMPOSIUM, SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Contact Us

Dr. Jules Bruck

Director, School of Landscape Architecture and Planning
Chair, Department of Landscape Architecture

jbruck@ufl.edu

Dr. Thomas Hoctor

Research Associate Professor
Director of the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning

tomh@geoplan.ufl.edu

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